WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today a bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers launched an effort aimed at getting the Senate to increase sanctions on Iran:

GOP Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL), House Homeland Security Committee Chairman and Foreign Affairs Committee member Michael McCaul (R-TX), Foreign Affairs Committee member Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Foreign Affairs Committee Member Grace Meng (D-NY) – joined by 59 members of the House – led a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging them to take up legislation that would tighten sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors.

The measure, designed to force Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, passed the House in July by a vote of 400-20. But the bill has stalled in the Senate.

“As negotiations in Geneva are underway, we feel it is important to keep the pressure on Iran to maximize U.S. leverage,” said the House lawmakers. “Indeed, it is because of tough U.S. sanctions against Iran that Tehran has come to the negotiating table. Security in the Middle East and around the world depends on strong U.S. leadership against a nuclear Iran.”

Text of the letter is below and a pdf of the signed letter, with all the signatories, can be foundhere.